Vuelta a España: Roglic storms to victory on Lagos de Covadonga

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Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) took a decisive stride towards a third successive overall victory at the Vuelta a España when he reclaimed the red jersey by dropping breakaway companion Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) to win atop Lagos de Covadonga on stage 17.

On a rain-soaked afternoon in Asturias, Roglič’s superiority brooked no argument, though the dramatic nature of his victory owed much to the invention of Bernal, who had launched the winning move with an ambitious offensive on the Collada Llomena with some 61km remaining.

Roglič was the only rider with the strength to follow Bernal’s seated acceleration there, and he began to collaborate with his rival in the valley over the other side to extend their lead over the chasers beyond two minutes at one point.

That gap began to come down ahead of the final ascent to Lagos de Covadonga, but Roglič’s showcase was only beginning. He took up the reins definitively with 12km to go, and his resolute forcing would eventually prove too much for Bernal, who allowed a gap to open with 7.6km to go.

Impassive of expression and metronomic of pedalling, Roglič quickly expanded his advantage over Bernal to a minute and it was immediately clear that the stage and the red jersey would be his at day’s end. Behind, the chasing group was whittled down by a flurry of attacks and counter-attacks that eventually brought them up to Bernal, but Roglič had disappeared into the mist, seemingly in a race of his own.

Roglič punched the air with one fist as he crossed the finish line, while his teammate Sepp Kuss won the sprint for second place at 1:36, leading home a group containing Miguel Angel Lopez (Movistar), Adam Yates (Ineos), Enric Mas (Movistar), Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) and Bernal.

In the overall standings, Roglič is now 2:22 clear of Mas and 3:11 ahead of Lopez. Bernal, for all of his endeavour, gained just one place overall, moving up to 6th, albeit now 4:29 behind Roglič.

That place was gained due to the travails of maillot rojo Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), who crashed as he tried to chase back up to the Mas group on the descent of the Collada Llomena. He eventually lost 9 minutes, but his battling display was relegated to a footnote on an afternoon that belonged resolutely to Roglič.

“In cycling there’s always a risk. A lot of things can always happen,” Roglič said when asked about his decision to follow Bernal’s move rather than allow his team to chase. It was, he added, an instinctive call.

“It’s a race, and in the end, I didn’t think, eh, I just went with him,” he smiled. “Then I was already thinking, ‘It’s quite far, eh, and still quite a hard climb at the end,’ but it was going good. It was a real show, real racing.”

Roglič didn’t even glance over his shoulder when his pace-making dropped Bernal with 7.6km to go, and his cadence scarcely changed either. He simply continued to press on the pedals and the gap stretched out inexorably. Nothing to be done.

“I didn’t decide it, I just tried to ride up the climb as fast as possible,” Roglič said of his approach to the final climb. “At that point, Egan didn’t follow anymore so I just went then alone.”

As simple and as complicated as that. Bernal, for his part, was magnanimous in his appraisal of Roglič’s performance and his own part in the day’s action. “I don’t like to just stay on the wheels, you often have to, but this is real cycling. I’ve been suffering a lot during this Vuelta and finally I had good legs,” he said. “I’m happy to be part of this victory for Roglič because he was brave. He was leading the race and he went with me, and he was taking turns on the flat. He was the strongest today and I’m happy for him.”

How it unfolded

The sheer volume of climbing meant this was always liable to be one of the most demanding days on this Vuelta, and the tone was set in the opening hour of the stage, where a reduced peloton covered almost 50km and no breakaway managed to establish itself.

A sizeable move eventually forced its way clear on the first of two ascents of La Collada Llomena, where Michael Storer (DSM) led over the top and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) attacked from the peloton, but it was already apparent that this stage would be disputed by the men with designs on overall victory.

Jumbo-Visma’s pace-making brought the break to heel on the second time up La Collada Llomena, before Ineos Grenadiers took over in a bid to tee up Bernal’s long-range offensive. Pavel Sivakov’s stint of forcing wreaked particular damage on the leading group, with maillot rojo Eiking among those distanced, before Bernal launched his seated acceleration almost 5km of the ascent remaining.

Some 61km still remained, but Roglič had no hesitation in immediately tracking the move, though his teammate Kuss, who had also attempted to follow, soon realised that he could not live with Bernal’s pace.

“It was already a really hard pace and when Primož went with Bernal, it was just blown apart. It’s a brave move to go that far out but I could tell he wanted to do something today and he did it in an impressive way,” said Kuss.

Bahrain Victorious led the pursuit in the chasing group, with a determined contribution from Rémy Rochas, who was hoping to keep Cofidis teammate Guillaume Martin within touching distance of the red jersey, which was clearly slipping from Eiking’s grasp.

Eiking’s crash over the other side confirmed as much, and Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech) was also a faller on a descent made treacherous by constant rain. By then, Roglič had begun to swap turns with Bernal, and their lead yawned out to two minutes, even if Bahrain Victorious eventually clawed it back to 1:20 come the base of Lagos de Covadonga.

Haig’s teammates Wout Poels and Gino Mäder continued to lay down the tempo on the climb, but while they saw off Martin, they were unable to make any further inroads into Roglič’s buffer as the Slovenian forged clear alone in front.

As the climb drew on, the chasing group was whittled down by accelerations from Mas, Lopez and Adam Yates, but while this brought them to within touching distance of Bernal, Roglič remained unassailable.

It appears that way in the overall standings, too, even if the Vuelta peloton faces another arduous day of climbing in Asturias on Thursday with the wickedly steep summit finish on the Altu d’El Gamoniteiru.

“I think tomorrow is another crazy hard climb and still anything can happen,” Roglič said. “But I think everyone will be tired after today.”